hearts formed by solicitude and desolation

⌈ 11 ⌋

ᏞᎾᎪᎠᏆNᏩ . . . . .

ᏞᎾᎪᎠᏆNᏩ ᏟᎾᎷᏢᏞᎬᎢᎬ!

the more you sat through executive meetings, the more you realized just how cautious hatter was when it came to the beach. and with the recent incident, that caution was slowly seeping into the protection of the cards as well.

your eyes watched intently as the small deck of cards, full of duplicates and the ones that would eventually go to hatter himself, were put into a safe, clicking close with a small beep. you were sure this was going into his room, too many executives had access to this room for it to be deemed safe even without knowing the passcode after all. you weren't sure if that made things easier or harder for you.

once he had finished, hatter then proceeded to bring out a small slip of paper and a black envelope, scribbling on it with his pen. from your position at the table you couldn't see what was written, no one but the man himself could, but you were also sure it was the code for that very safe. he folded it, stuffing it into the envelope before dripping red wax as the seal, pressing down onto it with his ring.

he slid the envelope to aguni, who with the same pen began signing his name. it was yet another precaution, so he knew that the envelope wasn't getting switched out with a fake. that put the idea of descreetly replacing the envelope with one of your own out of the question unless you were able to successfully forge every executives signature. you figured you may as well try, even if it would prove to be somewhat difficult. the only question was, where could you get a deck of cards to replace them? was there something about the cards that was different than the ones in stores and such? yet another question you didn't know the answer to.

when it was finally passed to you, your eyes quickly scanned through the other signatures, trying your best to memorize them as you began writing your own, purposely taking longer as to fully remember every stroke and size. finally you put your pen down, sliding it to ann who sat beside you before watching her make her own signature, memorizing those lines as well all the way until the final executive.

"i want to thank you all for your cooperation." hatter held up the envelope, covered in everyone's names, "this is to only be opened by me in front of all of you, and when i eventually leave, kuzuryuu will do the same with the remaining cards."

you shifted in your seat as the conversation continued, playing with your fingertips. this wasn't good. even though you sat through this entire meeting you still have no idea what the code was, and you didn't have the time to try and guess. the only possible way you could really even attempt to take the cards is by breaking into hatter's room, but even through that you still don't know how much time you'd really get to take a thorough look through the living space. and then what would happen when you did find it? what would you put as the code?

what the hell were you guys going to do?

you looked up at the sound of your name, seeing ann had stood up from her chair, "the meeting is over."

the woman was watching you, a worried expression evident on her face. one glance around the room and you realized she was right, that no one remained, not even hatter had bothered to stay behind.

you mustered up a small smile, pushing yourself out of your chair and thanking her before heading towards the door. she followed closely behind, and you gave her a small wave in goodbye as she left down the hall. you waited with a beating heart for her figure to disappear around the corner before dropping your hand, swiftly turning around and going in the opposite direction.